Sou Fujimoto reveals Shenzhen exhibition hall, a “box of suggestions”
12/05/2021.
[Shenzhen] China
metalocus, ANTONIO PLATO
metalocus, ANTONIO PLATO
Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has unveiled his proposal for the ‘Shenzhen Reform and Opening-Up Exhibition Hall’, Shenzhen, China. Designed in collaboration with Donghua Chen Studio, the exhibition hall has a multi-layered transparent façade and it is imagined as “gardens within a box”
The 90,000-square-metre complex was the winning entry of an international competition for an exhibition complex in Shenzhen's Futian District. The project, defined by its luminous and translucent façade, is intended as a “window” into Shenzhen, displaying and publicizing the city’s achievements over recent decades.
The exhibition hall will has a complex program: a site welcoming guests to the city, an institution collecting research materials, a landmark to signify Shenzhen’s innovative and international brand, and a window of Shenzhen’s culture and people.
The 90,000-square-metre complex was the winning entry of an international competition for an exhibition complex in Shenzhen's Futian District. The project, defined by its luminous and translucent façade, is intended as a “window” into Shenzhen, displaying and publicizing the city’s achievements over recent decades.
The exhibition hall will has a complex program: a site welcoming guests to the city, an institution collecting research materials, a landmark to signify Shenzhen’s innovative and international brand, and a window of Shenzhen’s culture and people.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
Renderings courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects.
“The natural elegance of the project emphasizes the harmonious relationship between the landscape and its surrounding context, which creates a humble appearance with a village-like fascinating indoor space.
The entire building can be understood as gardens within a box. The openness and transparency of the building also echoes the theme of reform and opening-up. Meanwhile, the multilayered façade system provides a variety of spatial expressions within the changing light.”
The entire building can be understood as gardens within a box. The openness and transparency of the building also echoes the theme of reform and opening-up. Meanwhile, the multilayered façade system provides a variety of spatial expressions within the changing light.”
Sou Fujimoto team.
The project is the latest in a line of recent high-profile contest in Shenzhen. Recently, SANAA unveiled images of their Shenzhen Maritime Museum. A few weeks before Grimshaw unveiled their mango tree-inspired design for Shenzhen’s international airport and transport hub. And Zaha Hadid Architects also unveiled two recent projects for the Chinese megacity: their competition-winning Tower C at the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base. Also Jean Nouvel with the Shenzhen Opera House, a large opera house on the Shekou Peninsula, a site overlooking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.. Meanwhile, the designed team was recently selected for the design of Shenzhen’s Natural History Museum; comprising 3XN, B+H, and Zhubo Design.
More information
SOU FUJIMOTO
Sou Fujimoto was born in Hokkaido, Japan on August 4, 1971. In 1994 he graduated in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He established his own architecture studio, the agency Sou Fujimoto Architects, in Tokyo in 2000, and since 2007 a professor at Kyoto University.
He was first noticed in 2005 when he won the prestigious AR – international Architectural Review Awards in the Young architect’s category, a prize that he garnered for three consecutive years, and the Top Prize in 2006.
In 2008, he was invited to jury these very AR Awards. The same year he won the JIA (Japan Institute of Architects) prize and the highest recognition from the World Architecture Festival, in the Private House section. In 2009, the magazine Wallpaper* accorded him their Design Award. Sou Fujimoto published “Primitive Future” in 2008, the year’s best-selling architectural text. His architectural design, consistently searching for new forms and spaces between nature and artifice.
Sou Fujimoto became the youngest architect to design the annual summer pavilion for London’s Serpentine Gallery in 2013, and has won several awards, notably a Golden Lion for the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and The Wall Street Journal Architecture Innovator Award in 2014.
Photographer: David Vintiner
Categories
Our selection
